Pickford

[AjaxAndy]

It's a difficult one with the pens, one went under him which wasn't really his fault... Guessed right, dived well, the penalty was hit badly enough that it found that awkward gap between midriff and arm. If the player had hit it slightly better it gets saved.

Then two he got his hand to but they were very well struck and in the corner so probably just a very good penalty that he almost got rather than any error on his part.

Feel it was more down to bad luck and penalties being hit just well enough, or just not well enough to allow them to be saved.

[Audrey Horne]

Earps would have saved a couple of them.

[Goaljira]

Come on now. Dubravka showed last night that even someone of his quality can't stop all penalties. At least Pickford saved one.

[Kerryblueboy]

Good on the penalties but his distribution was off last night might have been the wind but he seems to be our playmaker at the back sometimes but a good bit of the time boots it too far

[wepull]

It was funny when he started complaining to the manager when Patterson didn't allow the ball to come to him when there was acres of space for Patterson to run with the ball. Not criticising him but it was a funny moment to watch on the telly

[Shogun]

It was funny when he started complaining to the manager when Patterson didn't allow the ball to come to him when there was acres of space for Patterson to run with the ball. Not criticising him but it was a funny moment to watch on the telly

Weird moment that, no idea why he was kicking off at Patterson. You'd think he had the ball nicked off him on the opposition goal line!

[Audrey Horne]

Didn’t see that!!!!!

[howard1334]

I'll admit i'm partly asking this to create some debate, but it does reflect my genuine viewpoint: Why do everton supporters overrate pickford so much? He's shit in the air (statistically one of the worst year-on-year), not terrific at sweeping, and overly emotional (and per Tark in a recent interview, a horrible communicator as a result). He also tends to make poor distribution decision--e.g., he often goes for glory balls over the top when we could use some possession. He's not even all that exceptional at the one thing everyone likes to laud him for: shot stopping. His post-shot expected goals allowed has been worse than the top-5 league average in 5 of his 7 seasons at Everton, including so far this season (when people have been routinely praising his shot stopping). And even in the two seasons he exceeded the average, it wasn't by much. (And this stat doesn't even account for the fact that he allows more shots on goal than he should as a result of him being shit in the air, not great at sweeping, and a poor communicator, among other things.)

I recognize that he's made some key saves late in the season in recent years, and pulls off some worldies on occasion. But given that his underlying stats are so shit compared to his peers, i dont understand how he's fooled everyone into thinking he's a top class keeper and that we are blessed to have him. Is it because he is England's number 1? Is it because people think he's shown loyalty (despite there being a complete lack of a statistical basis for any elite team to go after him, as further evidenced by the fact none seriously have for seven years)? Is it because we are desperate for one of our players to be top level that actually stays with us?

I don't actually think we could do much better than him at the moment, to be clear. And i was also equally critical of tim howard during his last several years at everton (and for the USA) despite him being what drew me to everton and the impetuous for my username 17 years ago. Question is specifically prompted by his egregious errors in the last two matches and Tarkowski's recent interview deriding his communication abilities.

[Cereal Killer]

Ahhh the usual “we can find better” debate, without any thought into who this may be, why they’d want to join us or how we afford them

[AjaxAndy]

What's Dubravka up to these days?

[Escla]

What's Dubravka up to these days?

Plays for Newcastle.

[brap2]

I do wonder why people read into that tark interview that he was being critical, or that we as non athletes have any understanding of what Comms are like on the pitch of a top level footy game.

It seemed good to me, he should be shouting. Don't want a shy goalie do you.

[brap2]

Re: his numbers...I mean I've said many times if we could sell him big and get a average keeper we'd probably be better off and I'm sure deep down dyche would love a big tall long arm fella to come and claim crosses...but he is a good keeper like. Good with outbursts of occasional brilliance.

A lot of how he plays is (as ever) down to how he's asked to play. Twat it up because that's where we want the ball, don't come out too much etc.

[AjaxAndy]

I think if I were to give a proper response to this I'd say that Pickford isn't as good as the absolute best keepers, and he has some limitations... However he's also excellent in some areas which make him an above average keeper, and most of the time he's maybe one level below the likes of Ederson and Allison.

However if he drops slightly below that level, as he has the last couple of games, or teams exploit his weaknesses then he becomes quite average.

He needs to perform to his absolute best to be a top 4-6 keeper in the league, and thankfully most weeks over the past few seasons that's where he's been at.

Also all keepers make mistakes and go through drops in form, so really we need to accept that and not jump on him the moment he goes through one, because Ederson etc also have spells where they look pretty ordinary and let in soft goals or make mistakes that lead to them.

Is he one of the best in the world? No, but most weeks he's the level below that, which is more than good enough for where we are as a team, and probably should be thankful he's been willing to stick around... He's earned us a lot of extremely valuable points in recent seasons that an average keeper wouldn't have.

[Bluedylan1]

I agree with you, we do over-rate him a bit, and I think you've covered the reasons really.

There have been periods where he's raised his levels and they've often coincided with periods when we've been in desperate situations (which is to his credit) and so his stock among blues has risen. He's also been an international and, for the most part, a consistently solid performer in an era where we've had some dreadful players and teams. He's been something to latch on to and a bit of an emotional anchor in constantly turbulent seas for us.

None of this is intended as a criticism of him or an attack on him btw. He's one of our only players in like a decade who has been value for money overall. But I agree that overall he's a good keeper not a very good one, looking at both metrics and the eye test. He's a few levels below a keeper like Allison for me, not a level below.